


seeing double

by sapphskies



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dopplegangers, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Inappropriate Humor, Jeongin is tired, Mentions of PTSD, Multi, Panic Attacks, Sexuality Crisis, body switching, boysinskirts, chanbin are fwb, kind of a dramatic comedy (?), minsung are cuties, oh ! hyunin are bros, satirical kind of, semi-social media based, seunglix are enemies..or are they, this isn't a mature fic i promise !!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28427643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphskies/pseuds/sapphskies
Summary: 『♡』jisung and peter live in opposite worlds until they're forced to coalesce, dragging a slew of friends along for the mess of a journey they partake in•̩̩͙✩ this story changes perspectives quite frequently, as it runs along multiple storylines at once !
Relationships: Bang Chan/Seo Changbin, Choi Yeonjun/Seo Changbin, Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Original Male Character(s), Kim Seungmin/Lee Felix, Yang Jeongin | I.N/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. CHARACTER LIST

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my most experimental work yet !!  
> quick disclaimer ! : this isn't mature,, it's more just,, a satirical depiction of nsfw humor bc i admire their attitudes towards life despite my fear for what they have to say  
> that's all ! have fun

⇝ **HAN JISUNG**

**self-proclaimed idiot, embraces his idiosyncrasies, 2nd year major in "music composition"**

**_'So, what now? I live in this dude's body forever?'_ **

**⇝ PARK 'PETER' JISUNG**

**bee nd honey enthusiast, study dates are his lifeline, 2nd year major in "literature and creative writing"**

**_'Shut the fuck up, I specifically avoided the bathroom because of that.'_ **

**⇝ LEE FELIX**

****

**_unfortunately horny for most hours of the day, reads explicit fanfiction, 2nd year major in "art graphics and illustration"_ **

**_'Sorry, this might be bad timing, but I didn't know you were into BDSM.'_**

**⇝ KIM SEUNGMIN**

****

**embraces tragic tropes most readily, hates his friends, 2nd year double major in "visual arts" and "physics"**

**_'YOU'RE EATING OUR TOSTITOS?!'_ **

**⇝ YANG JEONGIN  
**

****

**streams weekly on twitch, embarassing infatuation for the mcyt community, high school senior**

**_'Say that again, but slower and with the actualtruth.'_ **

**⇝ HWANG HYUNJIN**

****

**barely breathes on social media yet garners a lot of attention, assumedly intimidating, street racer**

**_'Doesn't time almost feel like its passing by more slowly in the cold?'_ **

**⇝ LEE MINHO**

****

**works around alcohol yet doesn't like to drink, his favorite movie is ratatouille, 1st year culinary arts student**

**_'You look good, Blue.'_ **

**⇝ BANG CHAN** **  
**

****

**one of those soundcloud artists, possibly a workaholic, 4th year major in** **"music production and engineering"**

**_'Like I said, we're here to exchange ideas and such.You don't have to worry about how your track sounds like right now.'_ **

**⇝ SEO CHANGBIN**

****

**intimidating until you look at his tattoos up-close, crushes easily, 3rd** **year major in** **"commercial and advertising art"**

**_'Surprisingly, that's not the weirdest thing Felix hastried to convince me.'_ **

**SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:**

**⇝ SHIN RYUJIN: a close friend of Jeongin's, owns a motorcycle**

**⇝ CHOI 'LIA' JISU: works at a record store,** **Ryujin's girlfried** **  
**

 **⇝ KIM HEECHUL: applied arts professor, tolerates Seungmin & Felix's bickering** **  
**

**⇝ HIRAI MOMO: music theory professor, engaged to Heechul** **  
**

**⇝ LALISA MANOBAN: a close friend of Hyunjin's, street racer** **  
**

**⇝ PARK 'ROSIE' CHAEYOUNG: another composition major, knows Jisung from music theory class, Lisa's girlfriend**

**⇝ CHOI YEONJUN: a frequenter of changbin's shop, used to be a dilinquent** **  
**

**⇝ SON CHAEYOUNG: 'moonlit night' bar manager, short but fiesty** **  
**

**⇝ KIM YOONA: Jeongin's childhood crush, very sketchy**


	2. black and white

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰ push and pull... life and death... good and evil... yin... and yang ꒱**

****

Han Jisung was most definitely already running late for today's especially crucial show-stopping number. After spending the whole week freaking out over his newest gig at 'Moonlit Night', the street bar Jisung, Felix and some of their friends often frequented, you'd expect him to be in a deeper state of panic. Especially as said bar housed a bartender by the name of Lee Minho, who Jisung _guesses_ was quite attractive, but definitely not the only reason he always insisted on stopping by the small joint.

By some miracle of nature, when Jisung let it slip, very loudly, that he'd gotten his last rapping gig at a bowling place cancelled due to his 'coarse language', Minho had offered to ask his boss for permission if he wanted to book a gig for himself at the bar. If it weren't for the fact that he had so much alcohol in his system, when Minho leaned in close enough that his warm breath – a lovely juxtaposition to the cold that always engulfed Jisung's body – fanned over Jisung's ear, and whispered 'You better be good, blue.'

Han Jisung would've positively passed out, evident through his clear _fascination_ with the boy. Instead, he excused himself to the bathroom and threw up. One too many drinks, he guesses. It was too bad Felix was too busy throwing flirtatious remarks at Hwang Hyunjin, a street racer they'd become familiar with through the bar, for Jisung had been in the bathroom for a solid 20 minutes.

Maybe they visited that bar too often for their own good.

The thought didn't cross Jisung's mind as he woke up that morning with a chirpy mindset and the brightest of demeanors, even throughout his first morning lecture – even though it was _calculus_ of all things. Things only started going downhill when Jisung remembered that amidst his week-long preparation and anticipation for that night, he'd completely forgotten to work on a computer science assignment that was due the next day. Normally, he'd work for a bit, let himself get distracted, and then leave the rest for later that night when he knew he'd be awake. He'd promised himself a lovely night at the bar, a splendid performance, and maybe even wake up the next morning at Minho's place, but that last part only _sometimes_ passed through Jisung's mind.

That had all led to this very moment. Jisung had worked for a few hours after initially panicking for a bit, and then fell asleep after succumbing to the sweet entrails of sleep that engulfed him, along with the silkiness of Felix's lovely 'Kyungsoo forehead' pillow – which they'd bought after consuming Felix's not-so-ordinary brownies –, only to be harshly awakened when Felix himself shrieks into his ear that they're supposed to be at the bar in 15 minutes.

In theory, Jisung and Felix could've gotten ready in that amount of time and made it in time for the performance. However, they both knew that this occasion was much too vital for Jisung's future _not_ to spend the dedicated amount of time in looking as perfectly amazing as possible – after all, there's a certain impression that has to be made, a certain ardor to evoke. Felix had also been very excited to manage Jisung's makeup and outfit for the night, and who was Jisung to take that opportunity away from the grasps of the eager boy.

Ultimately, that was what had landed them in their current situation; whatever happened to being fashionably late?

The pair were sat across one another on Felix's plushie-ridden bedsheets, said boy set on maintaining a resolute, tenacious expression as he worked on adding the finalizing touches to his artwork. Sure, Felix loved and craved for the opportunity to 'doll others up', as he likes to call it. In spite of this, it was evident that he would readily bare his focus-mounted claws at anyone that happened to inconvenience him while he was concentrated on the completion of said art, so Jisung favored staying quiet and propping in his air pods while Felix worked.

Finally, signaling a conclusion, Felix puffs out a heavy, content sigh as he screws a tube of glitter shut. Then, he directs Jisung to stand up so he'd be able to gander a proper glance at his wonderfully crafted creation.

Ridding the air of his tense stare, Felix's eyes eventually glimmer – literally, seeing as there's minute crystals at the corner of each eye – and his lips stretch out into a grin while his hands are raised to applaud his gratifying effort.

'You can look now! I think I've outdone myself, yet again.'

With a roll of his eyes at his roommate's subtle pomposity, Jisung turns to their shared vanity, eyes practically crammed out of their sockets while his face leans in to evaluate Felix's handiwork closely 'Oh, wow.'

'I know, right!' Felix quips eagerly as he stares on admirably, from the back.

'I look hot,' Jisung's eyes run over every minute detail on his face, from the layering of smokey, velvety shadows on his lids, the branched lining under and over his elongated lashes, the dark staining of his pillowy lips, and the amicable amount of glitter littered over the apples of his cheeks. Felix had even snuck a bit of glitter into Jisung's messy blue strands; sure, it would be a pain to wash out, but Jisung didn't quite mind having glitter in his hair for a while 'jeez, maybe I should wear your clothes more often too.'

Jisung briefly looks down at the silken, black shirt he's draped in, its gossamer-like material embracing his skin with the gentlest of touches. Its classiness greatly juxtaposes the boyishness of the black Supreme T-shirt he has on underneath – Felix felt it more genuine to incorporate something into the look that Jisung wore much too often. Additionally, although Jisung wasn't quite accustomed to wearing skirts, after Felix had begged him to put his dusky, layered one on, he figured he had nothing to lose and ended up finding some indulgence in the way the material flourished and swished around him.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd wear them more often from now on.

For now, Jisung had just been keen on getting to the bar – stylishly late – and giving a performance of a lifetime. Or maybe just, the month, or something.

☯︎☯︎☯︎

Peter eagerly dips a silver spoon into his jar of smooth, forest honey, scraping through its almost-empty contents before garnering some satisfaction from watching as it slowly cascades over his warm, blueberry pancakes, the sweet syrup folding over beautifully and sliding over the warm cakes, onto his yellow plate. _Ah, what a blissful feeling._

Although Seungmin's apartment housed both a full jar of honey, and many plates that Peter could've easily used instead, the latter insisted on using his own. At this point, his friends had gotten used to the odd behavior, and didn't question it when Peter pulled the familiar, ceramic plate out of his bag. They just hoped the thing never broke or else Peter would probably refuse to eat at all.

Seungmin had even gone as far as looking for the very same plate online so he could buy a whole bunch, to no avail.

'Ugh, I'm gonna have to restock soon, I'm almost out of honey.' The blonde declares sullenly, placing his spoon over the rim of the jar and watching as the golden liquid slowly drips back into place.

' _Or_ you could just have mine.' Seungmin rolls his eyes from where he's sat across him, decorating his own plate of pancakes with a whipped cream smiley.

'Min, you already know I won't be doing that,' Peter states impassively after taking his first bite and feeling himself relinquish in its warm, cumulous textures 'the brand you use sucks, no offense.'

Jeongin chuckles from where he's propped up on the kitchen counter, swinging his legs in the open air and indulging in his own plate of pancakes, to which Seungmin whips his head around aggravatedly 'What's so funny, Yang?'

'I just find it amusing that you're gonna have to deal with this everyday now,' Jeongin smiles cheekily 'aren't you always complaining that you don't have a roommate, you should be delighted.'

'For financial reasons,' Seungmin glares over at Jeongin, who just sticks his tongue out at him 'doesn't mean I have to be excited to be living with a picky bitch, now.'

'Hey!' Peter exclaims, his eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment 'I precisely remember you agreeing to my "housing terms".'

Jeongin almost chokes on his pancakes then, before gripping onto his stomach, his exaggerated laughter bouncing off of the small kitchen area's walls 'He had housing terms?! Are you serious?'

Seungmin unleashes a tired, worn sigh before nodding once 'Yes. It's two pages. Double-sided.' Which only elicits further laughter from Jeongin's side and causes Peter's mischievous grin to expand.

And as Seungmin looks back at both of his daft friends, he begins to think that maybe murder should be legal under certain circumstances.

☯︎☯︎☯︎

Under purely coincidental circumstances, as soon as Minho is about to recount to his manager, once again, that their performer should be here any minute now, Jisung's familiar head of blue hair, along with Felix's purple-pink, bob into view as they swing the small establishment's door open and make their attendance known.

For many, a person's sanctuary is that quiet, serene place you consult to collect your thoughts or forget about them for an amount of time. A place you feel safe in, one that greets you like an old friend that you're fully prepared to confide in.

To Jisung, it was this small street bar. For all of his favorite memories, his favorite moments, had been made and blossomed between these four walls. And that included the embarrassing ones.

The establishment simply had a way of plastering a smile onto Jisung's face, as soon as he gets the first whiff of its air; an odd mix of laconic alcohol and savory food. It wasn't everyone's thing, but Jisung would always find himself back here when things got tough – _and it wasn't just to stare at Minho's pretty smile._

Speaking of, as soon as Minho's eyes land on Jisung's figure by the door, he wants nothing more than to feel frustration and irritation pump into his torrid blood, especially considering the fact that he would've been held accountable for Jisung's absence. Unfortunately, his mind seems to quickly dismiss attempts at reaching said irritation in favor of drowning in thought over Jisung's unusually decked out appearance, seeing as he usually showed up to the bar in his most casual wear and a fallen spirit – disguised by alcohol.

Jisung's eyes, that immediately catch the muted lighting overhead, swiftly inspect the room before meeting Minho's astonished ones. As soon as this happens, Jisung bids Felix goodbye, who is already taking a seat on the stool next to Hyunjin's – unsurprisingly so – and speeds over to Minho and his manager, who are by the cashier.

'Hey! I'm sorry for getting here a bit late–,'

'A bit?' The bar's manager, a short, young girl, who's blonde hair just barely reaches her shoulders, scowls at Jisung.

'Ok, maybe a bit more, but I'm here now!' Jisung beams as the blonde responds by deepening her glare, until Minho taps her on the shoulder, to which she redirects the glare to him 'What?!'

'Go easy on him, Chae, it's probably a one-time thing.' Minho assures, hoping that it holds some truth.

'It better be. I'll only decide on reconsidering _you_ based on tonight's performance. You better be good.' Chaeyoung threateningly points a finger up to Jisung's face, who silently nods in slight fear, despite the small girl having to look up at him as she scolds him.

Upon receiving a curt nod, she pulls Jisung over to his makeshift 'stage area', where Minho makes sure the speakers are still set up properly. Once she turns back around to attend to other matters, Jisung's smile quickly reappears as he bends down so he's on level with Minho's crouched figure 'Thank you so much. Your manager is so damn intimidating, isn't she younger than you–,'

'Doesn't matter,' Minho quickly intervenes as Jisung begins to ramble again, purposefully avoiding his gaze, for fear that he wouldn't end up looking away 'and it's no problem, just don't do it again.'

With that, Minho stands back up, passing a mic over to Jisung for testing before sporadically deciding to edge closer and lean in to where he'd be able to easily murmur into his ear – just like last time, except much worse because Jisung is completely sober and can easily feel and hear with so much more clarity than before.

'You look good, blue. Break a leg.'


	3. a new prospect

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰The simple things in life are also the most extaordinary things and only the wise can see them꒱**

****

Jisung's head has felt like a blank slate for most of the day, through which most of the thoughts that attempt to etch themselves on, only get lost to the white noise that seems to infiltrate much of the space. And the clock has only just struck 11am. Of course, he's very appreciative of the fact that he'd have Felix's company for the day, even if it were just to 'take back something his cousin still hadn't returned'.

'Dude, ease up. I told you, Chan's no one to be intimidated over.' Felix reassures Jisung, yet again, after noting his prolonged silence and inability to respond to any of Felix's queries about the elevator music while they were on the ride up.

'Maybe to you, Felix. I've only ever known him as CB97, the rapper I look up to who _happens_ to be related to my idiotic best friend.'

The pair stop in front of the velvet green, wooden door. A plate reading '22C' is propped up on it, a bit slanted and tired from wear. Jisung's breath hitches in his throat as Felix presses the apartment's doorbell and the pair hear a short 'coming!'.

'Excuse you,' Felix ridicules 'I'm not the one who's role model goes by CB97, of all things.'

'He's literally your cousin.' Jisung scoffs back with an increased irritability.

'Not by choice.'

The pair fleetingly break out of their short glare-off at the sound of the apartment door creaking open, a boy adorned in a baggy, black sweatshirt, and messy blonde hair at its entrance.

'Felix!' A bright smile overtakes the initially groggy-looking boy, who upon seeing the younger male, practically jumps forward to tackle him in a tight hug.

'Ah, Chan,' Felix's voice strains out 'you're crushing me.'

'Oh, haha, sorry.' Chan coyly apologizes as he pulls out of the short hug, giving the younger a few pats on the back, wide grin still prominent. It's only then that Chan takes notice of Jisung's awkward figure, arms crossed over his chest and eyes wandering around the hall in fear of possibly interrupting the pair's 'moment'.

'Oh, you must be Jisung!' Chan notes, holding a hand out for Jisung to shake.

It's only then – even though he'd been mentally preparing for it for hours – that Jisung fully registers the fact that he's standing in front of The Bang Chan. The producer that he'd been looking up to for as long as he'd been putting his music out on SoundCloud. Sure, it wasn't the most ideal to idolize a fellow college student trying to make ends meet, but it was something about the close relatability and the way that he was able to garner a reputable status around campus for his hardworking spirit, outgoing nature, and ability to make _good fucking music_ on top of schoolwork.

So, that being said, Jisung finds himself completely frozen up. After shortly gulping down a lump that had formed itself in his throat, and Jisung shouting at himself in his head to _say_ or _do_ anything, he ends up mumbling:

'Um, sorry, my hands are sweaty.'

With that, Chan bursts into laughter, ushering the boys on amidst his light giggles 'That's alright, mate, come in.'

Jisung reluctantly follows the older boy inside, alongside Felix, who muffles his laughter and proceeds over to the living room's blue couch, plopping himself down next to a raven-red haired boy whose eyes stay glued down onto an album with transparent film carrying various, small drawings. Despite his clear focus, he acknowledges the younger's presence with a small 'Hey, Felix.'

'Alright, Jisung, you can just sit down, make yourself at home. I'll finish something off, and then we can talk, alright?' Chan smiles over at the boy whose wide eyes are still wandering over the contents of the room. From the unorganized stack of video games and movies under the TV, the figurines, books, and merchandise on the huge, white shelving unit, the framed pictures and reference drawings on the walls, the...perhaps Jisung should stop staring.

'Uh, yeah, yeah, that's alright. Thank you, again.' Jisung managed to get out, attempting a small smile to showcase his gratitude.

With one final nod, Chan is on his merry way back down the hall to, where Jisung can only assume is his studio room – judging by the room's entrance showcasing a sign that reads 'CB97's Workspace', or as Felix calls it, the Music Nerd Pot – and Jisung awkwardly sits down on the nearest armchair. As he does, the silent, brooding male next to Felix finally looks up and sends Jisung a small nod upon acknowledging his appearance. Jisung guesses this is the roommate Felix was talking about.

It's only then that the boy properly turns his attention away from the album in his arms, to the boy next to him, whose eyes are stuck to his phone's screen 'Felix,'

'Hm?'

'you dyed your hair again? Seriously? It's only been, like two weeks since the last color.'

'So? I'm trying to be like Ramona Flowers over here.' Felix glowers, running a hand through the purple in his surprisingly soft locks, adeptly laden with pink highlights. Where would Felix be without his precious security blanket; hair dye. No one had seen the boy with darker hair since he'd discovered it.

The boy only rolls his eyes in unwilling response, ditching the album to haphazardly plop onto their coffee table. Jisung takes notice, then, of the numerous tattoos covering the length of the boy's arms. For a slew of years, Jisung dreamed of finally getting his own tattoos, only ever getting to admire it on others. The idea of what pain it would entail, however, scared him off anytime the idea popped into his head. For now, he might just stick to the pretty, temporary, painless ones.

'Do– do they hurt?' Jisung finds the question leaving his mouth before he can stop himself 'The tattoos, I mean. Getting one.'

To his surprise, the boy looks to be pondering over the query, pursing his lips and squinting his eyes in thought 'Honestly, at this point I've become so accustomed to it that I don't feel the pain that comes with it. Obviously, it'll be painful if it's your first time, but it mostly depends on your pain tolerance. And, where you decide to get it.'

'Ah. Yeah, my pain tolerance isn't the best.' Jisung bashfully admits, mumbling the last part, just loud enough for the other two in the room to hear 'I've always wanted one, though.'

Instead of dropping it like he'd have expected, Changbin frows, continuing 'I think you should still get one. It's a short price to pay for something as significant as a permanent imprint.' Just as he's about to make his leave, he turns back around upon finalizing an abrupt decision 'Actually, what's your name?'

'Uh, Jisung. Han Jisung.'

'Alright, Jisung...I work as an assistant tattooist at the parlor down the street. If you'd ever like to schedule a consultation, we're open all week.'

'Assistant to a tattooist, not assistant tattooist.' Felix corrects monotonously, to which he receives a scoff and a gritted 'Shut up.'

And just like that, he turns around and continues his trek down the hall. For a few seconds, before wording anything out, Jisung allows himself the time to indulge in the rare quiet. Would he really want to commit to getting a permanent marking on his skin? Of course, there was no questions asked there. But would he be able to fare the pain? Most probably not.

'Dude,' Jisung breaks out of his fixated reflections at Felix's call, looking up to find the boy having switched positions to lay over the entirety of the couch, now that he had all the space to take 'you really need to re-evaluate that one.'

'What?'

'The tattoo thing. You sobbed for like an hour after I bleached your hair.'

'I shouldn't have let you do that.' Jisung shudders at the memory of Felix practically dumping the bleach onto Jisung's head.

'Whatever,' Felix shrugs 'I just know whenever you get that tattoo you'll be squeezing my hand to death like you're giving labor or something.'

Before Jisung can bite back a remark, Chan peaks his head out of his studio door and calls out 'Jisung, you can come in now!'

Like a kid being ushered to their pediatrician's office, Jisung hesitantly stands up and makes his slow, hesitant journey over to the open door, looking back – regretfully so – at Felix, who sends a sly smile and a wink his way.

☯︎☯︎☯︎

'What. The. Hell.' Seungmin feels his eyes physically twitch upon being subjected to the sight of the words displayed on his laptop screen. And they were definitely there; he was sure of it. After all, he'd enlarged it, highlighted it, turned up the brightness, anything he could do in ludicrous hope that the letters would magically morph into any other name.

Literally any other name would've been fine.

'What's wrong?' Peter questions nonchalantly, from the couch where he's skimming an extract.

'For fuck's sake,' Seungmin dramatically drops his head down so its laying on the table like a dead fish on a cold plate 'I'm paired with Lee Felix for the big art project I was talking about.'

Peter's mouth forms a big 'ah' in realization. Despite never having met him, Peter had become all too familiar with the boy in Seungmin's Applied Arts class that always seemed to get on his nerves. Ever since the start of last year, it seemed like the boy had been keen on getting on Seungmin's nerves at every single opportunity.

It started off on both boys' very first day in the particular class, in what became the Horrible First Meeting. To make a long story short, Felix had "accidentally spilled" his paints' water cup all over Seungmin's favorite shirt, and proceeded to utter, word for word, feigning horror:

'Oh! How unfortunate. I seem to have dropped this on your _white_ shirt.', all whilst adorning a painfully sickening smirk.

Next incident was not too long after that one, wherein Felix had asked to borrow a lead pencil, and proceeded to chew on it mindlessly throughout the entirety of the lecture, much to Seungmin's displeasure. He'd told him to just keep it. That was also, one of his favorite items.

That, along with so many other incidents: such as the many times Felix whispered lewd things into Seungmin's ear whenever he got the chance to lean over while their professor was in the midst of an important explanation, or the many times Felix had passed over notes like a middle schooler that read things like _'thinking of you xoxo'_.

It really inebriated Seungmin's mind that someone of Felix's outlandish nature could be in so many of the same courses as him. It was hard to avoid him when he'd see him in passing on the College of Art's campus. It was a painful reminder that he could never truly get rid of him.

At this point, even after having dealt with the boy's presence for an entire year, Seungmin didn't know how he'd muster up any amount of pride to take on working with him on a 2 month-long project. One that took up a huge chunk of his grade, too.

'I can't let this happen,' Seungmin whimpers into his hands 'I have to ask if I can switch partners, or something.'

'Is he really that bad?' Peter quips hesitantly, taking a short sip from his iced tea.

'Are you serious?' Seungmin questions, voice tainted with deep offense 'You've heard all of my stories about him, right? You know who he is, don't you?'

'Uh yea, Min, and honestly, he doesn't sound as horrendous as you make him out to be.' Peter shrugs 'Just consider; have you actually taken the time to get to know him?'

'Why the hell would I do that?' Seungmin grimaces at the mere thought, almost fake gagging too, just to solidify his views.

'Because you might find common ground, I don't know. Even if your personalities clash, does that immediately eliminate any possibility for a friendship?'

At that, Seungmin actually physically heaves, finding the words too unbearable 'Hell no, Park. No way. There is unequivocally–,' At that, Peter rolls his eyes: Seungmin always used big words whenever he was _way too_ passionate about proving a point.

'–no possible way that I could ever like that idiot.'

' _Whatever_.' Peter mumbles to himself, whispering the last few parts of his concluding statement to himself 'Given how much you talk about him, I'd think you were obsessed.'

'Sorry?'

'Nothing!' 


	4. ambiguous brothers

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰ As different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire꒱**

The rain that day held no remorse for the people and the places it was pelting over. Its unexpected and sudden nature had taken the city's inhabitants by surprise whenever it started splattering onto the dark, bleak streets, turning from light trickles into heavy showers within mere minutes. Minutes that could've been easily taken up by someone, say, stopping by the local library to quickly grab a book they'd forgotten there, and then skipping back outside only to find that the light drizzle they'd last been left with had already converted into a colossal rush of salty water. Combined with the darkening skies, the sight is so remarkably distinct that Peter has to briefly question himself on how much time could've possibly passed by while he was inside, but quickly dismisses it as a weird and eerie coincidence.

Naturally, Peter hadn't brought an umbrella, because the day's weather ended up spontaneously taking a 180 degrees turn from its predicted forecast, and his first experience with public transport that very day was so horrible he was sure he'd need some time to recover.

What he did have, however, was his phone, so he evaluated his contact options shortly.

Spending most of his life in Malaysia meant that he certainly wasn't familiar with many people in his new surroundings just yet. In fact, he was only really close enough with Jeongin and Seungmin, and because Seungmin had likely already met up with his enemy project partner, he decided to call up Jeongin, and ask him if he could pick him up. After he does, however, all he gets is a subliminal 'Yeah, I'll get you someone' and honestly, Peter would rather risk getting sick than ride in a stranger's car like Jeongin seemed to be suggesting.

The damage had been already been instilled, and there wasn't anything Peter could really do, seeing as Jeongin had hung up thereafter in unprecedented speed, seemingly in a rush, or maybe it was just Jeongin being his impatient self.

Peter was left to wait under a small spot by the library for shade, arms wound tightly around himself as the cold, misty air permeated through his wool sweater. Some would say – some being Seungmin – that he'd greatly worn this particular one out over the amount of times he'd pulled it on just this month alone. Peter's stance remained still, for nothing else in his vast closet instilled as much warmth and security on the basis of icy blue material that wrapped around his figure like a well-meaning hug.

He just knows that in his description, Jeongin likely said something like 'He's probably wearing a blue turtleneck sweater'. To be fair, he was.

It's only reaffirmed when, after some time spent fidgeting and impatiently readjusting his grip on his heavy textbook, Peter finally sees a red Honda Civic stop in its tracks, directly in front of him, its driver quickly motioning him over.

Peter diligently covers his head with his poor textbook upon short exposure of the downpour that had become tonight's downfall, before quickly swooping into the passenger's seat, putting his seatbelt on, and subconsciously pulling down at his sleeves, feeling the car's cold air immediately nip at his skin. Normally, he'd ask whoever the driver was to turn on the heating but given the fact that he was in a stranger's presence, he preferred the notion of staying as silent as was gratifyingly possible instead.

As Peter reaches over to clean his glasses with his marginally damp sleeves, the driver, who seems to be texting Jeongin back to let him know he's picked his friend up, speaks up 'There's a wiping cloth in the compartment in front of you.'

Accompanied by a small 'Thank you.', Peter reaches over to open the compartment, before quickly spotting said item. Unfortunately, as he reaches over for it, his hand incidentally knocks into a crumbled-up tissue encasing what looks to be orange-white pills, only slightly obscured by Peter's bad vision. Quickly dismissing his dangerous curiosity, Peter promptly draws his eyes away, focusing his attention back down at his glasses to wipe at its wet frames.

The boy next to him clears his throat as Peter gently places his thin frames back on and pops the compartment closed 'Hey, I'm guessing Jeongin hasn't told you who I am, yet?'

Peter forces himself to look up at the figure next to him, and almost immediately feels himself shrivel up under his sharp stare. His black hair is haphazardly tied up in a small half-ponytail through which few, stray hairs appealingly fall out of place, and his ears are littered with a multitude of silver earrings, all of which look to be chosen and assembled with great precision and cohesion. Additionally, he's adorned in a black leather jacket carrying a variety of pins – a rainbow heart, a race flag, a strawberry cake slice, a skull, and a sunflower – and sweatpants of the same color. Peter can appreciate the niche in the juxtaposition of such apparel.

And although he's been taught not to judge a book by its cover – which he often took very literally; most of the novels he's read had terrible covers – it's fairly hard not to mentally place the boy in front of him in a certain box that sits far from where he'd place himself and Jeongin in. And that's not to be interpreted negatively at all; Peter just finds it hard to discern how or why he might've met or known Jeongin. The hazy, yet evident, smell of cigarette smoke and cheap beer oozing off of him only seems to further support his theory.

'No, he hasn't.' Peter finally speaks up, biting his tongue in embarrassment once his voice comes out a lot quieter and more staggered than he'd prefaced in his head.

'I'm Hyunjin,' He grins upon relaying the introduction, finally steering the car forward as Peter turns his eyes back to the front 'hopefully, you'll recognize it.'

'Ah, yeah, I do. Jeongin's step-brother?'

'Just brother is fine.' Hyunjin corrects, not having meant for his tone to sound so harsh, only realizing so when Peter mumbles out a short 'Right, sorry'.

Hyunjin clears his throat before sighing out an 'It's fine. Music?' to which Peter simply hums in agreement.

Hyunjin always says that the best way to settle uneasy silence is through music. Especially on car rides. Especially on car rides with strangers.

And as he expects, as 'Places We Won't Walk' plays from Hyunjin's car speakers, a melodramatic atmosphere is established. The calming melody mixes in beautifully with the pitter patter of the rain outside, and Peter leans over on his propped-up hand to fixate a gaze on the window, even though all he sees is obscured by the heavy rain. It's only when the pair stop at a traffic light that Peter glances to his side, only to instantaneously meet Hyunjin's eyes, which are piercing into his skull with a curious intensity.

Hyunjin doesn't miss the small, strangled croak that escapes Peter's throat when he finds that his eyes had been on him, rather than on the road, but he dismisses it as he speaks over the music 'You look familiar.'

'Hm?'

'I don't know, I've been trying to put my finger on where I might've seen you before for a while, but I still haven't figured it out.' Hyunjin's eyebrows furrow, a hand with a ring on almost every finger moving up to scratch behind his ear in the midst of his contemplation.

'Ah!' Hyunjin yelps with a decisiveness, scaring Peter half to death 'You're from the bar, right? I see you often with your friend...I forget his name...with the purple hair. He's awfully flirty–,'

'Wait...sorry, what?'

'You're that guy from the bar, right? You used to have blue hair; I saw you perform sometime last week. By the way–,'

'Wait, I'm sorry,' Peter frantically waves his hands around 'there must be some kind of misunderstanding? I've never had blue hair...nor do I perform anything...and I've never actually stepped into a bar. At least, not willingly.'

'Seriously?' Hyunjin leans back in his seat discontentedly 'But I could've sworn – ah, that's odd. He must just look a bit like you, then.'

'Maybe,' Peter shrugs, feeling bad for probably disrupting whatever mood was established. Then again, it was stupid to feel so bad; what could he have done? Went along with it, and likely actually land himself in a bar, pretending to be someone else, like one of the characters in the sitcoms he would watch. Truthfully, maybe if he acted more like those characters, his life wouldn't feel so shell-like and dull.

Peter's brain can barely register anything happening around him thereafter, as they end up on the highway, and the speed of the car starts to significantly accelerate once they land on the mostly, empty streets ahead.

☯︎☯︎☯︎

'Jeongin, I swear to you, if I spend another second here, I think my head's going to burst from the sheer amount of things I'm refraining from saying.'

'Oh _come on_ , it can't be that bad.' Jeongin dotes, his attention drawn to the game he's playing – Hollow Knight, he'd been on it non-stop ever since he started the week before – more than the conversation he's having, his excessive keyboard clicks echoing clearly through to the other line.

' _It is_ ,' Seungmin stresses, sighing deeply into his hand as it runs over his face before prominently listing the night's indiscretions 'first, he's 30 minutes late, and he's really upfront about it and tells me he overslept. _We met up at 4pm?_ Why was he asleep?! Then, he orders pineapple juice and leans in to whisper "you know what they say about pineapple juice" and obviously I _fucking don't_ , but I just _know_ there's a sexual connotation somehow. And _then_ –,'

Before Seungmin can resume, he hears Jeongin snort from the other line ' _What_ is so funny?'

'You seriously don't know what he was insinuating?'

'No!' Seungmin exasperatedly whisper-shrieks 'Why the hell would I need to?'

'He means that it–,'

'I truly do not want to know. Anyways, then he doesn't even drink it at all? Not even one sip! He says "oh, I just got it to make the joke". Who does that?! And he just keeps...I don't know...he keeps being weird and showing me his concept art,'

'What's wrong with that? Aren't you supposed to be sharing those?'

'Of course, but nothing justifies how inappropriate his work for an Applied Arts course is,' Seungmin struggles to find the right words.

Again, Jeongin bursts into manic laughter 'Oh, this is so funny. This is really funny, honestly thank you for sharing your most embarrassing moments with me.'

'Shut up! I called for advice, not bigotry!'

'Dude, I don't know what to tell you. Felix really doesn't sound that bad, honestly I'd like to be friends with him, I feel like he'd be funnier than you and Peter combined.'

'Fuck you.'

'I love you, too,' Jeongin endearingly calls 'anyways, I have to go now, I'm about to fight Hornet. She's been a pain in my ass, I've been trying to beat her for hours.'

'Wait! Uh, do you happen to know where Peter is? I called him before you, but he didn't answer.'

'First of all, it pains me to hear that you were intending to tell Ji about your embarrassing story before me,' Seungmin rolls his eyes on the other line, and somehow, Jeongin detects it 'but, he's probably still with Hyunjin. I made him pick him up from the library, since it's pouring outside.'

'Hyunjin? Your step-brother?'

'My _brother_ brother. And yeah? I'm too invested in this game to leave the house. Why don't you idiots just learn how to drive? You're not embarrassed that the only person in our group that can drive is the high schooler–.'

Seungmin hangs up.


	5. the first switch

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰ So we don't forget when we wake up. Let's write our names on each other ꒱** ****

****

Jisung's eyes blink open upon feeling overcome with the brightness of strong sunlight pouring through the sheer curtains over his bed. It's short-lived, however, as the golden rays falling over his tired visage cause him to instinctively draw back under the large white covers. It was only then that he'd mumbled out a strangled and confused croak at the weight of the sheets he'd been hiding under, having come to the realization that he'd been wrapped in a thinner, wool blanket as well. The unfamiliar covering confused him, but he'd just assumed that amongst the rummage of Felix's blackhole of a closet, the boy had somehow found a blanket that didn't carry a mysterious stain or un-washable body fluid – Jisung didn't want to get into it.

As his eyes squint shut with exerted force, the feeling of an oncoming migraine makes its precedent known, and Jisung's recollection of the previous night spikes back up while he attempts to ponder over the strange events. The events pass him by in sort of a disconcerted blur; he remembered feeling himself doze off, his head sat on the bar, his eyes wide and ablaze, his head drowning out the commotion around him. Then, Minho, who he'd been sat right in front of, asks if he's alright. He remembers, just as he's about to muster a small nod, he feels his vision blur into black, and then his body slump over as he loses control over his senses. Of course, after that, he doesn't recall anything.

Naturally, after having made such recollection, he comes to the inference that Felix had somehow gotten a hold of him, tucking him in securely like the wonderful friend he was. With that reasonable conclusion in mind, Jisung tries best to doze back to sleep. Until, of course, his thoughts interrupt him.

Since when did their dorm provide sheer, white curtains? They didn't, in fact, they were a very opaque, dreadful, vomit-grey, a bit slanted from where him and Felix had accidentally broken it on one side and didn't look anything like what his eyes had opened up to mere minutes ago.

Dismissing the approaching migraine, Jisung snaps his head out of his covers, looking up to reaffirm that he was indeed, not imagining the gilded beams peering through the – again, white – curtains. Jisung scratches at his frazzled hair, giving himself the time to properly record his surroundings.

That was when he'd become sure that he definitely wasn't in the safe confines of his room. What with, the organized desk space to his left, along with a corkboard full of notes, reminders, and photos. To his right were potted plants perched on a shelving unit, its wooden levels holding various paraphernalia (from Funko Pop figurines to folders organized by alphabet).

At this point, Jisung is certain he's at someone else's place. All that was left to do, was to discern who. Normally, he'd assume that his withheld fantasies had finally creeped up into his reality, and that he was currently in Minho's lovely abode. He couldn't, for the life of him, though, imagine this being how Minho's room would look like, and he'd distinctly remembered hearing Minho mention that he lived in a 1 bedroom apartment – because he was a good listener, of course – which crossed out the possibility of it being a guest room, especially since it was clearly furnished with personal belongings.

In the midst of his confusion, Jisung feels an inclination to look to his side momentarily, only to find a glass of water, a tissue paper encasing two blue pills, and a note. Naturally, his hands immediately go to the note, and his stomach churns uncomfortably when he realizes that his nails are unpainted, which was odd seeing as they were a glossy black just the night before.

Opening the note up in hopes for an answer, Jisung mumbles the neatly written words aloud to himself:

**_In case you're confused, you blacked out last night. Still not sure why, but if you're overworking yourself again, I'll smack you with my baseball bat. I had to leave to work on my project, but there's takeout in the fridge and I got you the honey you like. Take care of yourself. DON'T WORK TODAY._ **

**_P.S. Take the painkillers after eating something first, please._ **

The words should provide him with a sort of relief. So, he'd remembered the story correctly, but was he really, in fact, at Minho's house? He wanted to believe so, because the prospect would provide an immense reprieve, but something about the tone of the note and the aura of the room he was in, made the prospect much less viable. Plus, he most definitely hated honey, so he could he have just blurted that he liked it on of his tipsy/drunk sprees at the bar? Possible.

Gosh, this wasn't helping his aching head.

For fear of overthinking the situation, Jisung simply stands up to stretch out his limbs, not having taken much notice to the pair of thin glasses and android phone on the desk to his left. As per his normal morning regime, Jisung shuffles over to the long mirror leaning against the wall to his right, he expects to simply glower at his less-than-lively appearance. Instead, he feels his soul practically detach itself from his body, and his heart fall so far down or perhaps completely disintegrate, a few beats of silence and strangled gasps ensue before he starts shrieking.

Jisung's hair was a stark blonde.

☯︎☯︎☯︎

The first thing Peter registers when he comes to again after hours of darkness and nothingness is the slightly muted sound of a television just a few feet away from him, and as his eyes squint open the slightest bit, the glare of its screen strikes them painfully with contrast to the dim lighting surrounding it. Next thing he registers is the warm blanket he's wrapped up in, and the fluffy pillow his head is laying oh so comfortably on.

Its coziness almost lull him back into an unconscious state of dream-like serenity, until he makes a slow realization. Where is he, exactly?

Right, he'd forgotten that he was most certainly laying in an unfamiliar couch, wrapped up in an unfamiliar blanket, and...

Upon reopening his eyes, Peter had come face to face with a ginger-white cat. It seemed to be meager inches away from his sleepy face, its head tilted to one side in supposed innocence and its pupils dilated and curious.

Minho, who was previously scouted in the kitchen nearby, briskly sprints over to where peter is very audibly shrieking from the living room, frantically calling 'What happened? What happened?!' Upon arrival.

Peter was deathly afraid of cats. Ever since one that had snuck into his school's building jumped onto his face and scratched at his right eye, resulting in a very long, grueling waiting period, a trip to the emergency room, and an eye patch for a month. Given said experience, he'd say the shrieking and the excessive jumping were justified, even as the cat had ran out of the room after he'd done so.

'I-I, cat, CAT!' Peter scrambles to explain, momentarily forgetting that he facing a stranger, in where he assumes is his lovely home.

'Soonie? You're afraid of him?' The brunette that had rushed in questions, making sure to assist the frightened boy down from where he had been standing on the couch.

'Uh, I, sorry,' Peter's senses heighten again before he can properly acknowledge the query 'who are– what happened? Where am I?'

The boy sighs before explaining 'You blacked out yesterday. It was really odd, since you'd barely drank at all, but anyways, I hope you're not straining yourself too much. Chan told me he's working with you soon, so if that's what's–,'

'Sorry, what, I don't–,' Peter pauses, his voice phasing out as his hands move up to rub at his temple, a strange tightness growing in his chest from muddled confusion and slim panic '...understand, and my head is pounding, I- I don't,'

'Hey, hey, Ji,' The brunette's kind gaze falls over his worried ones, his tone a soft shade of assurance, and as much as Peter wants to feed into said assurance, it felt odd to hear a nickname he's only ever heard Jeongin use because 'it's more interesting than Pete', out of a supposed stranger's mouth 'it's ok, alright, I was just about to order something. I'll call your friend again, and he'll probably pick you up once he's not busy anymore, ok?'

His friend? That had to be Seungmin. As he recalled it, Peter had passed out just before Seungmin was arriving home. He didn't know if it was because of Hyunjin practically drifting down the highway, but he'd felt sick and disoriented for some time before completely succumbing to darkness. He hadn't seen Seungmin since the morning of the day before, in fact.

'My friend...where is...where was he?' Peter's words slur out oddly, as if he hasn't spoken a word in days.

'He wasn't with you, and since I was the only one around to do so, I drove you back here. Hope that's alright. Anyways, once he found out, I let him know that he could come back for you later, since it was too late. He came by this morning, dropped off some things for you to pass the time. Nice kid.'

'Oh,' Peter nods to himself, blinking a few times before finally asking 'sorry, what's your name, again?'

'My name?' The boy's eyebrows furrow, and a small frown replaces his sympathetic smile 'I thought you'd remember. It's Minho. Lee Minho.'

'Ah, sorry. Thanks, Minho.'

The simplest conclusion his unnerved head can formulate for now is that he might've mismatched the events of the previous day. After all, it would make entire sense if he weren't able to recall the events very sharply, especially since he'd spent the better part of that night feeling horrible and dizzy. Perhaps, he had passed out in the elevator, or in the hallway, or any place where it would've been easy for anyone to find him and take him back to their apartment, as Minho seemed to have done, simply as the act of a good Samaritan. If anything, he'd just felt bad for not recognizing Minho, who seemed to be one of the neighbors he hadn't been introduced to yet, who somehow seemed to know who he was.

Sure, yeah, that added up. So, Peter could stop worrying now.

'Alright. Now that everything's been cleared, bathroom's down that hall, Blue.'

_Blue?_


	6. two sides of the same coin

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰ As they say, the less you know the better you sleep꒱**

****

If Seungmin were to ever express, in any way, that he had been starting to warm up to Felix and their – strictly scholar – hangouts, to his friends, he was sure he'd be getting a handful of snarky, smug remarks directed his way. Especially as he had been complaining about the boy and his unfortunate behavior for the past year that they had miraculously managed to _know yet not know_ one another.

Despite his barely withheld transgressions, it had admittedly become harder and harder to deny that the sight of Felix jamming out to whatever was pouring out of his pink earphones whilst conducting research on whatever new developmental assignment had been thrown at them, was _a bit_ endearing. It only leads him to think that, perhaps, if their beginnings hadn't been so rocky, Seungmin would've consider the possibility of making a friend out of Felix. As of now, he'd much preferred sticking to the notion that seperated him from the boy, as much as possible, under any circumstances that trailed out of scholarly reach.

Besides, now, his thoughts had been clinging onto that of a certain blonde far too much for his busy mind to take much more notice of anything else. Admittedly so, Felix had noticed the shift in the taller boy's behavior, whether it'd been in the form of consistent fidgeting, incessant loss to space – and Seungmin almost never zoned out; he'd always maintained that his engagements be as quick and as precise as possible –, the small glances he'd devote to his phone every few minutes, seemingly awaiting a call or a text.

Sure, he'd ensured that he left a note and clear instructions, but it was entirely possible that he'd downplayed Peter's condition, and the dark, grueling feeling at the pits of his stomach did not help to settle any of his proposed queries. Upon further re-evaluation, Seungmin had only gotten to Peter when he'd already been knocked out, so how long could he have been laying on the cold floorboards until he arrived home?

Although the taro-flavored bubble tea he had gotten to treat himself with upon arriving had proved to be a good mind cleanser, and Felix's behavior had, for once, provided for a small amount of normalcy in what started off as a very abnormal day. Still, he couldn't help but let the idea linger within the very roots of his mind that he shouldn't have left Peter alone that day.

'Penny for your thoughts?'

Seungmin is abruptly drawn out of his languorous stupor, upon feeling his eyes move up from where his hand had completely stopped conscientiously noting material down, to land over a figure that, too, had drifted out of a working mind-set. The candy-haired nuisance had plucked an earphone out, taking small sips from his strawberry flavored milk tea amid awaiting Seungmin's response.

He wouldn't dare voice it, but Seungmin found it pleasant that they'd accidentally matched their usual orders to Felix's hair colors.

'Hm?' Seungmin's senses seem to draw into a lethargic alertness again, as he suddenly becomes hypersensitive to the buzz and chatter surrounding them. In his momentous stupor, he'd somehow become completely detached from all life around their little table in the corner.

'You seemed really distracted,' Felix shrugs sluggishly, attempting not to seem _too_ concerned 'I mean, you have been for a while, which I noticed. That's why I toned down my _behavior_ today if you know what I mean.'

Seungmin glowers his eyes at that, unbelieving. 'You leaned in to whisper that you remembered seeing a hentai that took place at a bubble tea shop that looked exactly like this one while I was trying to order.'

'That's pretty light for me,' Felix merely raises his hands up in an oblivious motion before continuing 'seriously, though, are you alright?'

'I'm fine.' Seungmin nods, but his brief pause before answering and hesitancy while doing so says otherwise.

'Bullshit,' Felix states bluntly, having already gathered his findings 'I could...I could finish up our work if you want?'

'No! Felix, no, it's ok.'

Their project entailed a slew of different assignments, leading up to the biggest, final presentation, and each one took up a different deadline. They'd just gotten started on this particular one, and Seungmin wasn't going to allow Felix the chance to kickstart without him. _Even if he seemed genuine in his words._

The tension in the air was much too palpable for either's liking, akin to an airtight bubble waiting to be burst at any second. One thing that Seungmin appreciated was that he did get work done with Felix around. As much as he wanted to call him a nuisance and leave it at that, he knows many other kids that would be completely unbearable as partner material. Many that would've dumped the work over him or had a particularly nerve-wrecking habit, like that one kid that sporadically grunted in the silence of class-time, when everyone would be busy at work.

_Mark Lee._

Which did make him sound like quite a hypocrite...but Seungmin's pride is too important to be sacrificed so easily.

Thankfully, the bubble is ruptured whenever Felix's phone rings, a tune all too familiar to Seungmin at this point – unfortunately – blasting out from the small device, making the younger groan in frustration. As per what Felix had let him know, it was a lovely anthem entitled, 'fuck Teeth' by 100 gecs – written in exactly the type of grammar neglect Seungmin despised. Seungmin would still pretend like he didn't know what it was whenever it played, but he often wondered how Felix wasn't embarrassed when the people surrounding them turned to stare him and his too-loud ringtone down.

The boy, himself, barely flinches as he moves to grab the small device, even yawning as he does.

Upon reading the caller ID, however, Felix seems to visibly brighten up as he answers with a chirpy 'Hi!'

Minho, however, skips the greetings and gets right into the source of his current worries 'Felix, B-Jisung's freaking out.'

'What do you mean?' Felix's smile instantly drops and his shoulders noticeably slump. The shift in tone causes Seungmin to look briefly, his ears noting how much worry is woven between it. Just as quickly as he does, he's back to looking back down, not entirely keen on eavesdropping.

'He– um, he keeps freaking out because of his hair? He says it's been blonde for months now.'

'What?' Felix questions, finding himself at a loss for words 'He put you up to this, didn't he? Tell him I'm not falli–,'

'Felix, I'm serious. _Please_ , get here quick. He keeps saying he just wants to see his friend.'

'Ah,' Felix pauses for a second before his mind whirrs awake and he's slamming his laptop shut, eager to pack his things up as quick as humanely possible to get to his delirious friend; had Jisung hit his head against the counter whenever he fainted?

'I'll be there in a few, just tell him to hang in there.'

'Hurry.'

Just as the line falls flat, Felix finally meets Seungmin's astonished expression, his pretty, wide eyes gazing back up at him through his metal framed glasses – ones that he rarely wore, but Felix was thankful for the few times he did – questioningly, fleetingly placing Felix under an enigmatic trance before he can rapidly explain his sudden hastiness.

'Felix? What happened?'

Deciding to enter the physical realm of existence again, Felix inhales sharply before answering 'It's a long story. My roommate, Jisung, blacked out yesterday. Don't know why, but, honestly, he doesn't take the best care of himself. I just need to check up on him, he's not doing too well, from the looks of it.'

Felix's rambles are hefty and sporadic as he files it out whilst getting the remainder of his belongings together. 'So, yeah, I'm sure you can understand my predicament. If you want, you can leave now too, I mean it's not fair to–,'

'Felix...?'

'Hm?'

Seungmin's eyes seem to be involuntarily stuck on a small, torn-up spot on the booth's cushion seat, his mind's inner-workings parallel to that of an hourglass that needed to be filled up gradually and time-specifically.

'Your friend, Jisung, blacked out.' He repeats, absentmindedly.

'Yeah?'

'he's freaking out because his hair is _blue_ , because he thinks he's _blonde._ ' The boy looks down, slowly, weighing either emphasized word between each hand.

'Yes? Look, I know it's a lot to process, but I promise I'm not making it up to get out of work or anything,' Felix pauses as Seungmin waves a dismissive hand at his words.

'No, Felix, that's not it. It's just...eerily similar to _my_ predicament. _My friend_ blacked out yesterday too. _His_ Korean name is Park Jisung. _His_ hair is blonde. He's at our apartment _right now_.'

Felix sits back down at that, his interest spiked 'That's...an odd coincidence.'

' _Too much_ of a coincidence,' Seungmin mills on 'Peter still hasn't gotten back to me. He could just be asleep, but I can't help but – _why are you laughing?_ '

Felix's giggles only increase in volume at that, his hands waving about in erratic motions while he attempts to control the ambush of laughter that follows, before he finally stops, taking a deep breath in and wiping a tear creeping out of one eye 'Sorry, his name is Peter?'

'Felix.'

'Right, sorry, sorry.' Felix attempts to turn serious again, imitating Seungmin's posture; arms crossed, eyes sharp, frown prominent. Perfect.

'Show me a picture of your friend.' Seungmin finally grumbles, albeit, through grated teeth.

'Jisung? Why?'

'Trying to see something,' Maybe it was a far stretch, but amongst Peter's rambles after he'd been dropped off by Hyunjin to their apartment, about 20 minutes before he'd come home to find him passed out, he'd somehow recalled the small part he almost glossed over about Hyunjin mistaking him for someone else.

At the end of the day, Seungmin didn't fully expect to get any real answers, but he decides that this would be harmless, as long as it got the creeping suspicions to subside. When he does take the phone from Felix's outstretched arm, his surprise precedes him, a hitched gasp leaving his lips, his eyes grappling to look ever closer, as if he'd come to the recognition that he'd truly started hallucinating.

'Holy shit.'

'What?'

'Holy SHIT!'

Seungmin is well aware that his words are heard by a majority of the simple café-goers who hoped to be having a normal day, but the sight he'd been presented with was of so much heightened magnitude, that he _had_ to express it justly.

'My, oh my. I can't say it's not attractive to see you openly swearing like this,' Of course, Felix has to ruin it.

Immediately, Seungmin's cheeks singe crimson, and he feels himself shrinking in his seat, clearing his throat before mumbling apologies to the people at the next table.

'Felix,' He then leans in to quietly whisper ‎'your friend looks exactly like mine.'

'Really?' Felix leans forward as well, seeing as he was given the chance to 'Isn't saying _exactly_ kind of a stretch?'

' _Felix_.' Seungmin's tone is more pointed, more resolute now.

'They look the exact same.'

It's then that Seungmin moves away and reaches into his open backpack, rummaging through its inner pockets for a certain photo, and before Felix can make a comment about how adorable it was that Seungmin carried around polaroids of his friends, he's too aghast to utter a sound.

'This...is _your_ friend?' Felix wonders if it's a trick of the eye. An instilled hallucination. Maybe he had been dreaming this whole time – although, he realizes, if he had been dreaming and Seungmin was in it, they'd likely be doing something else.

Seungmin doesn't answer, acknowledging Felix's astonishment, and simply lays the photo next to the one on Felix's phone. They had quite literally, all exaggerations aside, looked like identical twins. Of course, Jisung looked like the darker, edgier, moodier twin, while Peter looked like the more put-together, nifty, astute twin.

Most strikingly, Jisung had blue hair, while Peter had blonde.

'What...what the hell does this mean?' Felix issues, feeling the gears in his head attempt to twist accordingly but instead, squeaking awkwardly.

'Maybe it's a stretch...but, perhaps they got switched? Mistaken for one another? But...god, that would make no sense. The peter I tucked into bed yesterday was blonde. He was _my_ Peter.'

'Damn,' Felix hissed through his teeth 'sorry, this might be bad timing, but I didn't know you were into BDSM.'

'Felix.' Seungmin's distasteful expression is enough to convey his utter hatred for the words that leave the boy's mouth. An expression that reads 'What The Fuck?' and 'Why?'

'Sorry.' Felix murmurs, raising a hand to shield a sly smile.

'I'm calling him.' Seungmin decides.

'What?'

'I'm calling him and getting back home. You should do the same since they've been waiting for you this whole time. As much as I hate to say it, make sure to update me on anything. DON'T do anything stupid.'

'But I was just starting to formulate my conspiracy theory.' Felix frowns as Seungmin hurriedly shoves his items into his bag, swiftly slugging it over one shoulder, before rushing out while simultaneously dialing the familiar number on his phone.

'Oh, ok. I was hoping you'd ask what it was.' Felix pouts from where he's trailing along. Thankfully for him, they seemed to be heading down the same path for the time being, which meant that he could finally say that he was able to walk Seungmin back home. Even if he wasn't quiet acknowledging his presence at the moment.


	7. a series of unfortunate events

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰ What bloody man is that?꒱**

'Open. The. Door.' Seungmin practically punches his index finger _through_ the small, feeble button amongst the many outside their compact apartment complex. Although the boy has still managed to await further response from whoever was behind the door to his apartment, Felix was sure he'd be ready to rip the buttons off at any moment, and would probably survive any circulating shock waves as a result - or perhaps Felix's imaginative ideals had been on his mind again.

'No. Thank. You.' Answers the figure behind the door. Although Seungmin isn't sure what kind of Freaky Friday situation he'd somehow landed in, it becomes acutely obvious that it is, in fact, not Peter. Whoever it happens to be is positively driving him insane.

'Seungmin–,' Felix tries for perhaps the trillionth time, from where he's leaning against the wall, watching the ordeal take place. The air had been growing more frigid with the passage of each millisecond, the sidewalk littered with a compendium of questionable items - a coin painted in white, a plastic bag with googly eyes, and a pencil slathered with play dough, to name a few.

'I can't believe today, of all days, I forget my fucking keys.' Seungmin cuts him off, yet again, grappling at his strands with so much ferocity, they _might_ just snap off.

'Yo, whoever this is, please give up, I'm getting tired of walking over to the speaker while my show is on.' Jisung quips from the other line, and it's evident from his voice that he's chewing on something. Even within the faint feedback and Jisung's - it's clear, at this point, that it is in fact the blue-haired menace - booming voice, Felix can tell that he's put on Miraculous Ladybug. 

'YOU'RE EATING OUR TOSTITOS?!'

'Yep, sounds like Jisung,' Felix mumbles, more so to himself, and then continues to try his luck, grimacing when a waft of street air washes over his breath, somehow. 'Seungmin!'

' _Fucking wait_!' Seungmin grimaces, looking through the contacts on his phone before coming to a looming ascertation 'Shit, we should probably talk to our neighbours more often.'

'Seungmin!'

No response, just incessant huffing and scrolling from the boy's side.

' _Seungmin!_ ' The boy draws the name out, knees buckling dramatically to imply that he's _very_ tired of waiting. Which he is, fortunately.

After yet another dismissal of his existence, Felix rolls his eyes and tries his luck ' _Daddy_.'

'What the fuck?' Seungmin finally faces the boy, features scrunched up in abhorrence.

'Oh, so you respond to that one?' Felix jibes smarmily 'Noted.'

'Felix,' Seungmin loses track of how many times he's used the boy's name in the exact same tone of discontent 'shouldn't you be getting to the bartender's place?'

'That's what I was trying to tell you! It's right here!' Felix groans, motioning over to the buttons with apartment numbers scribbled next to each one.

'What?'

Felix lets his actions speak for themselves, moving past Seungmin to press down on the button to apartment 18A, careful not to get his expensive boots to squelch over play dough. 'Hey, Minho, it's me, Felix!'

A few seconds pass until a distant shuffle is heard through the speaker and the pair hear panting and an exasperative tone. 'Finally, what took you so long? Whatever, I'm buzzing you in.'

'Wait,' Seungmin's face feels as if it's about to melt off, falling victim to yet another of the street's miscellaneous collections 'you knew, this whole time, that we could get in, and you didn't tell me?'

'You kept ignoring me,' Felix pouts, stating the obvious for once 'plus, I wanted to stall for a bit, you're hot when you're mad.' The last part is equipped with a kiss to the air, and Seungmin readily slaps it away, his hand feverishly moving to swipe at the air.

☯︎☯︎☯︎

As soon as Jisung answers the door to the apartment he surely did not inhabit, only to face who _had_ to be one of its residents – based off of his previous sleuthing wherein he'd looked through some of the framed photos around the small apartment –, he attempts to slam it shut again.

'You little shit,' Seungmin swings the door open in his hollowing gripe, despite Jisung's poor attempts at swaying it back closed.

'Damn it, my dream body is so weak.' Jisung mutters to himself before sprinting to hide behind a sizeable house plant, using one of its large leaves to shield his face 'Please don't hurt me! I know this isn't real, but I'm pretty sure the laws of lucid dreaming entail that I can feel anything that happens here. Which is probably true because I bumped into your coffee table and it hurt, like, a lot.'

'Laws of what?' Seungmin's eyebrows form a scowl, before they quickly revert to their normal state when his eyes widen and his mouth falls open at the sight before him. The aforementioned family bag of Tostitos is sitting on their large coffee table, some of its contents having fallen out of the flimsy bag and onto their costly carpet. The previously neat stack of CDs and video games are scattered on the floor in front of the TV and Seungmin can barely remember to feel exuberance over the fact that he'd get to organize them again, when his eyes fall over the next disaster.

Seungmin's precious daisy pot had been tipped out of place, its soil pouring out and seeping into the same carpet's smooth material. And, as if that hadn't been enough, from just the corner of his eyes, he can see the mess of snacks and pantry items laid out on the kitchen island. Again, Seungmin surely wouldn't mind cleaning up; but a seething red still fills his vision over the mere prospect that someone had violated his personal hearth. It'd been a breaking and entering, but without the breaking or the entering.

Seungmin wasn't planning on edging any closer to the boy cowered behind the plant, but one short glimpse into the disarray Jisung had caused in the _few hours_ he had been at the usually neat abode, had sparked a gleaming red within his vividly expressed emotions.

Thankfully, before things could spiral into an ill-fated string of events, Seungmin's ringtone interrupts them and he answers it to Felix's not-so-mellow tone, alerting him that he and 'the other two' were on their way down, from the bartender's apartment. It hadn't been too difficult to recognize who these two would've been.

On more fortunate terms, Seungmin retrieved the chance to talk to who he has to assume is Peter for a few, quiet moments. Given the boy's fear of enclosed spaces and undoubtful intimidation in being within the presence of complete strangers, the few words through a familiar voice were enough to steady his jagged nerves.

What ensued when the odd group had finally met up at Seungmin and Peters', now, trashed apartment? Well...the boys were certainly less attuned than usual – not Jisung, though, he was usually this clueless.

_'Holy shit, it's me,' Jisung stares Peter down, waiting for anything to register within the muted clutter that took up the most amount of space in his head 'wait, but I'm me.'_

_'Are you really that slow?'_

_'Wait, no, sorry, am I missing something obvious?' Peter squints into Jisung's direction 'I don't have my glasses on, so maybe I am...but for some reason, I can see perfectly fine.'_

_'Lucky,' Jisung crosses his arms over his chest 'I've been bumping into things all day. Eyes just aren't working today, I guess.'_

_'Oh my god,' Seungmin rubs his temple, feeling a distant ache make itself more prominent there with every second that passes 'you've got to be kidding me.'_

Thankfully, the group eventually decides to relieve the uneasy tension in the air when Minho, feeling the responsibility to do so as the oldest, offers to make some hot cocoa. His eyes had landed over the cocoa powder strewn over the kitchen counter from when Jisung taste tested it, thinking it would taste like the Nesquik powder. It certainly explained the spat-up mound of powder on the ground.

Every time Seungmin spots more mess, his eyes trail from the crime scene over to its perpetrator, who stares back at him with fear laced in his, now, bespectacled eyes. He makes a neck-slice motion, every single time, just to really relay the message.

The ordeal is what lands them where they are now, lounging in the apartment's (still cluttered) living space, each carrying a warm cup of hot cocoa. Peter, in spite of being in his own apartment, sat comfortably on his usual spot on the couch, doesn't feel the unease and soreness from the morning rise out of him, and doesn't feel like it will, anytime soon.

'So, what now?' Jisung finally speaks up from where he's reclining on one of the armchairs 'I just live in this dude's body forever?'

'Aren't you the least bit concerned about the fact that you are, in fact, inhabiting someone else's body?' Minho questions, genuine concern laced through his soft voice. Peter hadn't known the older for long, sure, but he'd admittedly felt the most amount of security within his presence than he'd ever felt around his parents - not that we were going to readily delve into _that_ , just now.

'Honestly, I still think I'm dreaming.' Jisung shrugs, fanning his breath over his palm and sniffing it out of curiosity, much to Peter's great consternation.

Felix, who is sat on the floor, leaning against the trusty armchair Jisung is sprawled over, pinches the boy's leg, causing him to flinch and let out a short yell. 'Ow! What the hell?'

'You're not dreaming, bro.' Felix mutters after a small sip from his mug. He'd know better; he'd been in his own interpretation of Seungmin's apartment in his dreams before, and things usually went very differently - again, we won't get into that.

'Does that taste fine?' Minho asks, motioning over to Felix's cup 'I warned you about the pop rocks...quite an unusual pair?'

By some unforsaken desire, Felix had ardently requested that the pop rocks in his back be put to use by Minho, when he'd asked everyone if they needed specific adjustments. He'd truly expected to hear a 'less sugar, please' or 'more milk, please'. Certainly not 'can you please put my candy rocks in?'

'Nope, it tastes great! Wanna try some?' To which Minho attempts to remain cordial and sane while shaking his head, even when his smile comes off as a pained grimace.

Next to Seungmin, Peter's small, twisted figure increases in wariness, and he instinctively wraps his hands around Seungmin's arm. A warning sign. One that Seungmin recognizes instantly as he lets the boy curl against his side before whispering, 'You ok, Pete?'

'It's just actually dawned on me that I'm in someone else's body,' Peter murmurs against him 'which, I understand that we have relatively the same figure, but I still feel so...invasive.'

Just as Seungmin is running a comforting hand over the small of the boy's back, an attempt to relieve him of the unease he's undoubtedly built up throughout the day, Jisung cuts the pair off in his usual loud, unguarded tone.

'We do _not_ have the same build, bro, you're a lot weaker than I am. Just peer down your shirt, you'll find some A+ abs...on second thought, don't, that's pretty gay.'

'Sung, you're literally gay–,'

Somehow, Jisung's brashness – as well as his and Felix's small back and forth – works to relieve some of the tightness in Peter's chest, but his figure continues to bury itself within Seungmin's in hopes that he'll somehow evaporate and stick onto the ceiling, along with plenty of other miscellaneous items that came with the apartment.

It feels like a hysteria begins to build up instead, smothering him whole; the situation he's landed himself in is genuinely laughable, until he gives it too much thought and begins to wonder if he's going to be trapped in a stranger's body for all eternity. Plus, why had his head been ringing all day?

'Oh my god, I just remembered!' Jisung shouts out, as if he's intercepted a telepathic pathway to Peter's mind – the notion of which, didn't sound as insane as it should've –, 'You're probably really hungover, sorry about that. My tolerance is amazingly high, given the amount of times I've gotten way too drunk, but I'm guessing yours isn't.' (Everyone hears Minho audibly sigh).

'You're – I'm...hungover?'

'Yeah. You're welcome, you finally have a good college story.'

Peter had known Jisung for only about an hour, and had been inhabiting his body for a few longer, but he'd already been adamantly sure he hated his guts (and sharing them). Seungmin too, from the few glimpses he'd gotten of him sending the boy simmering glowers.

'I could make you some hangover soup,' Minho offers 'it won't take too long.'

'Wait, wait, wait!' Jisung practically leaps out of his seat, knocking his ankle into Felix's face as he does 'That's not fair! I've been subtly hinting at you to one day, nurse me back to health after a night out at the bar, for months!'

'Not subtle, Blue.' Minho raises a brow, the sight of a blonde, bespectacled Jisung still seeming to register in his brain. It felt odd, but it somehow felt more peculiar to ditch the nickname completely. 'Sorry, not much I can do about your fantasies.'

'You could...make them come true!' The boy states plainly, to which Minho sets his mug down, moves to lay a few pats on the boy's head, and inches closer to mutter:

'You'll have more than a few chances, I've seen you on the verge of alcohol poisoning one too many times.'

'Are they dating?' Seungmin doesn't bother sugar coating his suspicions, noting how Jisung's cheeks begin to flush with a pinching red; to which he visually flinches, as it must've been surprising to react so easily when undertaking Peter's sensitive-based responses.

'Who knows?' Felix answers, his voice surprisingly a lot less vibrant than usual, Seungmin notices. It's only then that he notes the boy's sullen expression, sharp brooding eyes staring straight into his and Peter's direction.

'What?'

Felix pauses, seeming to have snapped out of a daze, his settled frown quickly morphing into a disingenuous smile 'Nothing.'

Deciding that he'd certainly endured and heard enough for the day, Peter feels his eyes growing heavier and heavier with the slow passage of time. He just barely makes out Seungmin and Felix's chatter concerning plans for postponement, feels the distant aroma of the lunch being brewed up by Minho glide into his senses, numbing them steadily until he lets slumber and contentment place unblemished caresses over his lids as they weigh down. 


	8. diner mishaps

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰ You can badmouth me as much as you want, but don't make fun of my brother!꒱**

'Say that again, but slower, and with the actual truth.' Jeongin briefly looks up from his phone, at the pair sat in front of him, his expression reading nothing but utter boredom and indifference.

'Innie, for the last time, that _is_ the truth!' Peter presses, his arms wound tightly around his figure, the lack of heating at the diner causing his figure to stiffen up, even under his large cardigan.

'Guys, seriously? Sure, the whole identical thing is questionable, but people all over the world end up meeting their doppelgängers. If you were going to come up with a story, at least make it more believable than body switching!'

'Jeongin, I swear to you, we're _not_ joking,' Seungmin stares into the depths of Jeongin's cynical eyes 'you can ask Felix, or Jisung himself, or Minho. Why would we all be in on a story when we barely know each other?'

'Lee Minho?' Jeongin raises a brow at that 'Isn't that the bartender from Moonlit Night?'

'How...the hell do you know that?' Peter questions concerningly, seeing as Jeongin is barely 17.

'Calm down, he's a friend of my brother's.'

At the brief mention of _Hyunjin_ , Peter's brain feels itself falter amidst its ordinarily smooth calibrations. After having reminded him that he was not, who he now realizes to be Jisung, Hyunjin had pulled up to a highway, and since it was mostly devoid of other life, he'd decided to speed up a bit too much for any sane human being's comfort. It had certainly been alright at first, especially as Peter desperately wanted to escape their stifling tension and settle back home to finally start reading his new novel, maybe draft up some tea with honey.

However, that sentiment didn't last long when Peter registers the pressing doom in his chest through endurance of Hyunjin's gradually increasing speed - had he even been within the speed limit? -. Eventually, his last resort came in the form of closing his eyes shut and imagining the safety and comfort of his abode. He hadn't dared peak through the window, even when Hyunjin attempts to convince him to look out at the blinding streetlights that bled into blurry streaks from the sheer speed they were driving in.

From now on, Peter would rather he walk alone in the rain.

'Speaking of,' Peter mumbles breathlessly 'your brother...,'

'Yeah?'

'Is he...I mean – does he...ugh, how do I say this?'

'He drove really recklessly didn't he?' Jeongin sucks in a short breath 'God damnit, I told him to drive normally this time.'

'Yes?' Peter answers questioningly, wondering if the boy was often so reckless 'Does he do that often?'

'He's a street racer,' Jeongin explains 'kind of in his blood.'

A loud ping from Seungmin's phone startles the pair sat in front of Jeongin, who seem to be very in tune with the strange nature of the latter's brother, especially as they didn't know much of the boy despite the years they'd known the younger. Seungmin mumbles a 'sorry' and chooses to disregard it.

'A street racer?' Peter inquires, mumbling the last part as if he'd be arrested for even speaking of it 'Isn't that...illegal?'

'Yeah.' Jeongin answers simply, his eyes sweeping up swiftly, pointer finger raised up at the pair threateningly 'If you snitch to the cops, I'll _fucking rail_ you.'

Before Peter can assure the boy that he won't, his breath almost completely goes out upon registering Jeongin's choice of diction 'You'll w-what?'

'I'll. Rail. You.'

Seungmin and Peter, in their incredulous falters, gape at the boy, who tilts his head at the strange reactions 'What? I'm always threatening you two, how are you still surprised?'

A few more consecutive pings sound from Seungmin's phone, but the boy continues to ignore it, too caught up on Jeongin's words, it seems.

'Innie...,' Seungmin starts, resting a hand over the boy's palm, laid out over the table 'that doesn't mean what you think it does.'

'Huh?'

'Uh...just search it up later...and stop using it.' Peter decidedly states, unable to allow himself to be the bearer of 'bad news'.

Before Jeongin can continue pestering the pair for answers, yet another ping sounds from Seungmin's phone, causing him to redirect his attention over to it, or rather, to Seungmin's dismissal.

'Dude, just respond already!'

Seungmin glares back at the boy, but takes his phone out nevertheless, only to find numerous notifications from the same contact number:

 **Felix from art college:** seungmin !! guess what !

 **Felix from art college:** seungmin

 **Felix from art college:** seung !! min !!

 **Felix from art college:** babe

 **Felix from art college:** baby

 **Felix from art college:** puppy

 **Felix from art college:** ohh right

 **Felix from art college:** daddy ;)

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** What the fuck?

 **Felix from art college:** oh ? :0 so you still respond 2 that one ;) ok bby

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** I'm going to ignore that.

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** Why do you type like that?

 **Felix from art college:** y not :(

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** It's barely comprehensible.

 **Felix from art college:** omg

 **Felix from art college:** i will not be talked down to by someone who uses punctuation in text 😐🤚

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** Why? We were taught grammar rules for a reason.

 **Felix from art college:** ,, at least an emoji bro ,, at least

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** No.

 **Felix from art college:** ,, k

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** Why are you using commas instead of ellipses?

 **Felix from art college:** omg .

On the other end of the line, Felix has to momentarily collect himself, wondering if developing a budding interest for a guy that typed like this was really worth it.

 **Felix from art college:** because it just has different energy

 **Felix from art college: '**...' feels more serious

 **Felix from art college:** like what .. is this?? so much tension and for what?

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** I have trouble comprehending literally any of what you just said.

 **Felix from art college:** 😭😭😭 PLSSHDIDUI

 **Felix from art college:** I'M SORRY THE PERIODS FUCKING SEND HDHFIJO

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:**...

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** You cannot expect me to understand that.

 **Felix from art college:** ok siri

 **Felix from art college:** n e ways I just wanted 2 let u in on a surprise

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** What?

 **Felix from art college:** look up lol

Seungmin's eyebrows form a tentative scowl but he follows the baseless instructions anyway, looking up and scanning the room until they finally land on a familiar figure. Felix, who had one hand propping his head up, sends a wide smile and a kind wave his way, a blonde and raven-haired boy sat in front of him, seemingly scanning the diner's menu.

What was most striking, however, was the sight of a small, white kitten sat just beside him, its tail swinging about as it stared up at the small light overhead, ears twitching with each flicker.

_Oh god._


	9. new faces and thunderstorms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: panic attacks, astraphobia, mentions of a past death (minor character)

≡ ⊹˚. **꒰ Colours shone with exceptional clarity in the rain.** **꒱**

The flickering light sitting over the diner’s booth illuminates every seated individual’s face with each palpable blink. With the way they’re all awkwardly shifting around in their seats, you’d think they’d just received the devastating news that someone had passed. Maybe, Seungmin thought, it was his dignity.

‘Alright, sorry for the wait! Here you are.’ Ryujin, one of the diner’s waitresses and one of Jeongin’s good friends, places the three plates she’s balancing down before faltering under the gaze of three others. Had they always been there?

‘Uh, sorry, we just got here,’ Chan, one of the three new faces greets, before relaying his, Felix’s, and Changbin’s orders swiftly, nursing the role of the person that’d take over order-taking for two other individuals that detested the process for reasons unknown.

Peter is thankful he, at least, would be able to use the food as a distraction from the off atmosphere that had been established when the table’s three new additions decided to join them. Felix had switched with Peter to sit next to Seungmin while the latter moved to sit next to Jeongin, much to Seungmin’s greatest displeasure and frantic eyes. Of course, Felix had yet to explain why an entire feline was perched up on his lap, one paw up to its mouth while it slathered it with tiny licks.

As soon as they’d sat down, Chan had been eyeing Peter way too much for his liking.

In fact, when he looks up again, he’s still unashamedly gaping at him with an intent that makes Peter think he’d done something to wrong the stranger ‘Uh, I’m sorry, have we met before…?’

Although he genuinely means it, his tone comes off incredibly standoffish and cumbersome, like he hadn’t been sure why he decided to speak up in the first place. He just doesn’t know how else to phrase ‘ _please let me know if I’ve done something stupid, I’m scared’._

‘Sorry,’ Chan replies, eyes crinkling at the sides with the noble accompaniment of a lengthy chuckle ‘no, you’re fine, I just still can’t believe it. You really look exactly like that kid.’

‘Told you,’ Felix rolls his eyes ‘no one ever listens to me in this house.’

‘Wait,’ Jeongin’s hand freezes as its reaching for a fry ‘you two are involved in that, too?’

‘The whole body switching story?’ Changbin scoffs in amusement ‘Surprisingly not the weirdest thing Felix has tried to convince me.’

‘It’s true,’ Peter feels like he’s going to writhe under pressure, his plate of pasta barely touched since it was set in front of him. Despite this, the full plate in front of him is still seething with enough heat to release exhaustive fumes in dynamic, whirling motions. Perhaps his stare had gotten to it. ‘and it was _not fun_.’

Chan and Changbin exchange glances before looking back at Peter’s frowned eyebrows, then at Felix who gives them a knowing stare, like he’s personally asking them to tread carefully.

‘Somehow, I believe you.’ Chan mutters, seemingly hesitant in that he’d needed several days to truly digest the information ‘Sorry if we annoyed you.’

‘It’s alright,’ Peter slumps down before looking back at Jeongin, whose expression is set on the table, hard to place the emotion behind.

‘This really happened, Pete?’ Jeongin asks, query adjoined with a small dip of his head to ensure that he has good reason to trust him. Although, said trust seemed to have been won over regardless.

‘Yes.’

‘Ok, then,’ Jeongin moves back to his burger ‘must’ve been weird using the bathroom in someone else’s body.’

Thankfully, Peter is saved by the bell when the small kitten that had taken purchase on Felix’s lap mewls upon feeling him scratch into her thick coat of white.

‘Why do you have a cat, again?’ Seungmin raises a brow at the boy next to him.

‘Why not?’ Felix responds, and suddenly Seungmin is taken back to their text conversation from earlier.

Chan sighs before responding ‘He says it’s because she looked lonely. She was sitting outside of the diner looking quite shaken up but didn’t seem hungry when Felix offered her treats.’

‘Why do you have cat treats on you?’

‘So many questions.’ Felix riles ‘I like to feed the strays next to our building. This one might be hungry, she just seemed too scared to accept anything from a stranger. Now that she’s more accustomed to me, I think she’ll let me feed her later.’

‘Oh. That’s actually very considerate of you.’ Seungmin feels awkward offering the boy a compliment, but the careful handling of a tiny animal from the arms of a similarly, small individual did a little more than engulf his stone-cold demeanor with _slight_ heat.

Thankfully, Ryujin makes her way over before these feelings could be addressed, placing three more plates down and motioning to the cat ‘By the way, Felix, was it? Manager says we can hand you a bowl if you’d like to feed her later. You’re lucky she has a soft spot for cats.’ She places a hand to stroke the cat’s small head, cooing when it purrs in content. Felix thanks her before she nods, turning back to Jeongin.

Sure, food provides a temporary distraction from an, otherwise, horribly stifling atmosphere, but none of the table’s residents can be completely distracted from the fact that they’d been morosely avoiding any and all contact as long as it had been fathomably unnecessary.

☯︎☯︎☯︎

‘Have you checked her for fleas and all that?’

‘Mhm.’

‘And you’re sure she’s been cleaned properly?’

‘Yep.’

‘Really, really sure?’

‘Yes, ji, I’m sure.’ Felix grunts, tone gripping onto as much exasperation as Jisung had likely been enduring the brutality of for a myriad of hours, up to that point.

‘Alright, then.’ Jisung sighs, electing to ignore the giant elephant in the room, pulling his red, aged headphones back on in hopes of finding semblances of creative synergy somewhere within the depths of his mind.

‘You know, it’s only a matter of time until we have to start buying her things, maybe get her to a vet–,’ Felix declares pointedly, their new feline companion’s furry paws kneading into his chest.

‘Lee Felix. You are _not_ planning on keeping this cat, are you?’ As much as Jisung would like to leave his friend’s ramblings to the air and maintain a steadier flow, Felix’s absurd notions are enough to make him peel his headphones back off, and turn back around on his chair to face his roommate. 

‘That is the plan, yes.’ Felix pauses to cautiously lift the kitten up so she’d (likely) be at eye level with Jisung ‘look at her! Are you really going to deny her of a home?’

‘Stop trying to guilt trip me!’ Jisung turns away immediately, shielding his face from the pair of curious, dilated eyes peering into his own – kittens, secret masters of manipulation.

He’ll deal with it later, Jisung thinks, a puff of air traveling out of his throat, concurrent with Felix’s distinct chittering.

‘Precious little thing,’ Felix coos, dismissing Jisung’s teasing groans. As she settles back over his chest, she continues kneading, sounding tiny spurts of snickers out of him following each light press ‘maybe we can replace Jisung with you.’

‘I can hear you, dipshit.’

Like clockwork, just as Felix is about to retaliate, a small ding sounds from his phone, signaling a notification.

**seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** Hey

 **Felix from art college:** doth my eyes deceive me 👀 or did you just text me first

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** I did, please don’t mmake a big deal of it.

**Felix from art college:** ayo grammar police you made a spelling error

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** I know ok but my hansd are too sshaky I’m sorry .

 **Felix from art college:** omg oh no I’m sorry did something happen :( ?

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** Yes

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** I’m at the diner ple ase help

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** Pete and Jeongn are’nt answering please

 **Felix from art college:** i’m omw right now, i’ll be with you soon bby

 **Felix from art college:** just try some breathing exercise until I get there, ok?

 **seungmin** **💌** **🌸** **^^:** Ok

 **Felix from art college:** I’m here, I’m here for you

There’s barely a ruffle in the air before Felix speedily grabs a coat, their car keys, and runs straight out into the night’s shadows. Even as the nature of Seungmin’s sudden nerviness urges the fronting of decrepit imaginings, there’s a drive and a spike in adrenaline that pushes him farther than fear ever could.

A short run to the diner would’ve sufficed, but the midnight skies were accompanied with a downpour of cloudy tears that trifled over any possibility for peace, and Felix wouldn’t have wanted to drop Seungmin off anywhere while the streets were still drowning in rainwater and thunder still struck the wind violently.

Past the prominent wail of water struck against roads with poor drainage systems, and flashes of light within a distance that cloaked Felix’s fixated eyes with deeper remorse, he finally makes it to the diner. He wastes no time in sprinting in through the doors, as soon as his feet first pad over mobile puddles.

He’s in. There’s a definite ring that reverberates so far past where he’s entered that he allows himself to believe, even for a moment, that it’d actually rung as loudly as his mind framed it to have.

The ring fades, and Felix’s eyes quickly search for any sight for familiarity, until he hears a small ‘I’m here,’, right where they’d been sat mere hours ago. Through general franticness, the ringing seems to still so plainly, clouding his ears with its cotton. Paired with an accelerated heart rate, it takes a few seconds longer than it should for his eyes to register the figure slumped over a red, cushioned seat, bunched up to look so small it makes him almost miss it completely.

Quickly settling down next to him, Felix raises a consoling hand up, reassuring the boy in murmured whispers before they land over the back of his neck, gently molding over its pressure point. Under a diminishing apprehension, Felix wields the chance to peer past Seungmin’s curtained bangs. His eyes recite a plethora of pent-up inhibitions, puffy and red with the gleam of fresh, salty pools screening their surface. The trace of said tears are as clear as pondwater, and he’s grown too relentless to wipe their remnants.

His breathing remains staggered, shaky, although no sobs racked through his body, and his hands are interwoven firmly in an attempt to halt their incessant shaking. A shake so vicious that it ripples past his arms and over his shoulders, drawing calamity within their characters.

As soon as Seungmin had realized that he’d been at the diner for far too long than should’ve been plausible, it had gotten to be too late. The sky’s thunderstorms had suddenly penetrated any way out that he could’ve hoped and wished for. It was well past midnight, so there was no sign of Ryujin, and Seungmin couldn’t have hoped to retrieve assistance from the one stranger that remained somewhere in the back, likely mistreating their post.

It began simple, a light fanning, a gracious understatement of the clouds’ sheer weight. He’d held onto cruel hope, a mere distraction, and doing so made him doubt its veracity. For whenever Kim Seungmin awakens after the drawl of sleep pins him down, over his own textbooks and a decrepit sense of worth, there’s a flash at the corner of his eye that makes him doubt, initially whether he’d still been within his own mind’s dreamscapes.

Should’ve listened, he should’ve listened to Peter’s warnings, why hadn’t he listened.

Hope had always been the most principled of midnight’s seedings, her shadow cloaked by an artificial Shangri-La. But Seungmin had learned of her deception long ago. It’d been that very fact that made it so incredibly difficult to find solace within his own presence.

His chest ached with the tremors that threatened to send his head into overdrive, his blood curdled with every bit of distant rumbling that sounded from outside, shaking the ground and his body with it. The sudden surge of panic was expected, but it hadn’t happened in so long, that Seungmin momentarily forgets what to do, and the lack of a presence irks him to his very core and causes his mind to drift off into places it shouldn’t.

A blurry image of a man in a big coat flashes through his mind. His gloved hand is clasped tightly around Seungmin’s smaller one, and for a moment, all seems well. An oncoming storm approaches, it seems, but Seungmin, in all his 4 foot glory, tells the man he’s not scared, that he’s too big to do so now.

It only takes a few seconds for Seungmin’s fingers to detach around his, for the man to walk over to a payphone. For the man to momentarily take his wettened glasses off to wipe them against his coat. For his body to be trampled to the ground by a speeding truck. For Seungmin’s screams to ripple into the busy air at the same time that a flash of lightning strikes his vision and a booming, threatening sound reverberates through it.

‘Seungmin?’ Felix’s soft voice brings Seungmin out of his head momentarily ‘Is it the storm?’

With every distinct flinch, a sound ripples through the night sky. Felix doesn’t have to wait for an answer. He slips past the boy’s scrunched up figure, and meanders over to the side by the window. Upon obscuring its treacherous view, Felix lifts his large coat, and settles it over both of their figures, allowing it to act as a security blanket.

‘You can look at me,’ Felix quietly mutters ‘take your time.’

And so, he does. Slowly, but surely, Seungmin’s eyes blink open to face Felix’s own, collected pair. For a moment, he feels his heart steady, but his arms are still shaking with no intent to stop, and his breath staggers with every motion he makes to balance it.

‘One deep breath in, like this,’ Felix reminds, imitating the words himself so as to ease the boy into it ‘and out, like this.’

Seungmin attempts the action, feeling the heaviness in his chest ache as he does.

‘Good job. Another one, in and out.’

Again, he repeats the action, his breath almost lifting completely. He feels his eyes begin to water.

‘You’re doing amazing. Another big one,’ Felix watches as the boy heaves in more air, with more effort this time, finally feeling it take full effect, his breath shaking and staggering as he releases it again ‘good, good. Drink some water before you do any more.’

Felix reaches for the bottle in front of them, careful not to shift his weight too far, and lifts it up to the boy’s mouth, dipping it slowly and giving him sufficient time to swallow, to breathe.

Eventually, he shakes his head when Felix offers more, motioning that he’s had enough. Felix allows him to collect himself before gently wrapping his arms around the boy’s fragile figure, tucking his shaky hands between them so as to encase him in as much warmth as possible. With every shake of the ground or sound of overhead thunder, Felix rubs the boy’s back comfortingly, whispering small comforters and letting him curl up into his side.

Eventually, he dozes into dreamless slumber. When he wakes up next morning, he’s tucked into his own bed. 


End file.
